PANEL OKS OPEN-AIR ‘WINDOWS’ AT EATERIES

ENCINITAS 
A downtown restaurant known for its vast selection of beers can create glass-less “window” spaces linking its outdoor patio and its indoor dining areas, even though nearby homeowners hate the idea, the Encinitas Planning Commission decided Thursday night.

Roughly 50 people turned out to see the panel vote on the proposal, marking the latest skirmish in a long-running battle between residents in the city’s downtown and owners of alcohol-serving establishments there.

Last month, the City Council gave downtown bar and restaurant owners 45 days to come up with a plan to try to resolve their conflicts with homeowners. The council is scheduled to revisit the issue at its Aug. 28 meeting.

Meanwhile, permits for new restaurants and requests to renovate existing properties are working their way through the city’s approval process.

In a 3-1 vote, with Commissioner Glenn O’Grady opposed and Commissioner Tony Brandenburg absent, the Planning Commission agreed the recently opened Bier Garden could have its open-air window spaces, but those spaces must close at 10 p.m. each evening.

O’Grady said he preferred a 9 p.m. closure time. Other commissioners said they wanted to go with a 10 p.m. closure time because that’s what the Sheriff’s Department recommended. It’s also the same time given to the Union Kitchen & Tap, another recently opened downtown eatery with open-air windows, they noted.

People who live in the nearby Pacific Station development wanted the windows closed at all times, citing high levels of noise.

While Pacific Station residents blamed the noise on the restaurant, which they said recently lost much of its interior soundproofing in a renovation project, Bier Garden representatives and planning commissioners said it probably came from an eatery across the street that has live music and dancing.